


Bucky, Shuri, and okapi

by Bacner



Category: Avengers (Marvel Movies), Black Panther (2018), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dora Milaje (MCU), Drabble, F/M, Gen, Some Humor, a relatively slow burn, a rough first start, okapi, some first interactions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: Bucky and Shuri bond. It takes a weird turn at first.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Shuri
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kellicohn23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellicohn23/gifts), [Patty_Parker60](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patty_Parker60/gifts), [beccab1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beccab1/gifts), [lila_luscious1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lila_luscious1/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Marvel owns everyone. Except for the okapi.

The first time that princess Shuri took Bucky Barnes to Wakanda's royal menagerie, it didn't go so well.

"And here's the okapi!" she proudly told her new friend, showing him the lesser-known cousin of the giraffe, (which didn't even look like one, and it showed):

"By gods!" Barnes yelled in an unnecessarily loud voice. "What have you mad science people do to this poor zebra?"

...Things went downhill from there; when the Dora Milaje pulled Shuri off Barnes and made her spit out one of his shoes, (Shuri used to be a biter when she was younger, and still reverted to that habit on occasion, though no one commented on that anymore, because princess privileges and all), she was already hanging upside down by her underwear.

"I think we're going to be friends now!" she told Bucky brightly.

Both Barnes and the okapi (still safely in its enclosure), just stared at her.

End?


	2. More Bucky and Shuri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: see previous chapter.

“…I just don’t get it,” Shuri muttered, as she observed the former Winter Soldier, (or not so former, perhaps), as the latter lovingly looked over his long-lost machete, finally re-discovered and delivered to him in Wakanda by his friends in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Aside from the insignia on it, which was too Soviet for Captain America slash Nomad to like it, (but Rogers didn’t know about it yet, so all was still okay in the world), it was a typical machete, though one designed to hack and slash: a flat-topped, sharp piece of steel, (with a wooden handle), that was very plain-looking, but undoubtedly functional and lethal as well. “What’s so special to you about it?”

“It’s probably my oldest belonging ever, one that wasn’t appropriated by Hydra or Leviathan while I was their captive,” BB the WW as Shuri called him whenever the others did not hear it, replied. “I lost it during a mission, and am very happy to have it back.”

Shuri felt a pout coming on. As far as she was concerned in regards to the former, or not so former, Winter Soldier’s friends, Grant Douglas Ward was too serious, while Barbara ‘Bobbi’ Morse was a hell-beast. That said, she was aware that BB the WW’s attempts to push them together as couple, while the duo were very happy with their respective partners, so there was that.

“…Anyways,” Bucky continued, unusually for him not fully aware that Shuri was busy with her own thoughts, “while this isn’t what you would call a signature weapon – this concept is non-sense, anyhow – this is probably the next best thing…”

“I have this sort of thing, this sort of weapon, myself!” Shuri snapped, as she walked over to the wall, and produced her spear. “Want to spar?”

There was a pause as everyone, including Shuri, just stared at it. Shuri’s weapon was a typical Wakandan spear; there were shorter versions of it, more suitable for one hand, used not just as a spear, but also as a variant sword with an extra-long handle, leaving the other hand free for an-other weapon or a shield, but this particular weapon clearly required both hands to use, and was a long-reach weapon, completely different from Bucky’s machete, which was light enough to be used single-handed. In a fight, Shuri would need to keep Barnes at a distance, while Barnes needed to close the distance gap instead. Okoye, let alone T’Challa, would have no problems in doing that, but Shuri?

“Your highness?” one of Shuri’s Dora Milaje bodyguards spoke carefully. “Maybe you and the White Wolf could fight the first few fights with wooden practice weapons instead? Just long enough to get the feel of each other to learn…” ‘And to prevent any limbs being lopped off or organs stabbed through’, went unsaid but sounded clear enough in the silence. “It’s a friendly match anyhow, right?”

“Yes, good idea,” Barnes examined the tip of Shuri’s spear – like all Wakandan spears, it was shaped for both stabbing and slicing – and reached a conclusion: he carefully hanged the machete on the wall, away from the reach of children or the monkey pets that the M’Baku and his people were so fond of, (and now that they were here to replace W’Kabi and other traitors, their pets came with them), and led Shuri away from her spear and towards the training replicas, which were made from wood, but were proportionally heavier than their real life counterparts, (for training purposes). “Shall we?”

Shuri, who realized that Barnes had draped his hand over her shoulders, beamed. Then she looked at her bodyguards, and…beamed at them, just in a different manner, one that implied that they should be barely seen, and certainly not heard.

The bodyguards, who had a very different set of orders from the queen-mother Ramonda, and who had heard stories about the same woman from when she was a teenager herself, gulped.

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and their job was only getting harder.


End file.
